French 2.298.454 discloses a truck with a carried elevating carriage. The rear of this truck is provided with joists in a casing, which are open at their rear ends and which extend in the longitudinal direction of the truck, and in which the arms of the carriage fork are received. At a certain distance below said joists in a casing, the truck is provided with two housings also extending in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and at each of which a slidable joist is disposed. These joists can, in their extreme retracted position, be blocked and constitute a support surface for the chassis of the carriage when the latter rests on the branches of its fork in the joists in a casing. The arrangement is such that the carriage chassis is pressed downwardly against the joists by raising the arms of the fork.
This truck with its carried elevating carriage, of the prior art, has several drawbacks: first, because of the extension of the carriage rearwardly of the truck, the total rolling length of the truck is increased and the signal lights of the truck are partially masked by the carriage carried at the rear of the truck; secondly, the overhanging position of the carriage loaded on the rear of the truck modifies in an important manner the distribution of the weight on the axles of the truck and generally gives rise to overloading the rear axle and underloading the front steering axle, in particular when the truck is running empty.